Why Serve Robotics is acquiring a medical robotics company

Serve Robotics, a robotics delivery company backed by Nvidia and Uber, is expanding into a new category with its latest acquisition: healthcare.

From Los Angeles Serving Robotics he announced on Tuesday that he was getting it Diligent Robotsa startup that makes robots called Moxi designed to help hospitals deliver lab samples, products, and other services. The deal provides $29 million in equity capital for Diligent.

Diligent Robotics was founded in 2017 by Andrea Thomaz and Vivian Chu and has raised over $75 million in venture capital – the most recent fundraising. $25 million in 2023.

The acquisition marks Serve’s first foray beyond its food delivery roots. The robot curbside delivery company was merged into food delivery company Postmates in 2017. The project continued after that. Uber bought Postmatesbefore coming out in 2021. Serve went people in April 2024 through reunification.

Serve co-founder and CEO Ali Kashani does not see the acquisition as a major deviation from the company’s original mission.

While the company hasn’t focused much on healthcare so far, the Diligent Moxi robot’s functionality fits well with the company’s vision for last-mile delivery with robots that can walk alongside people, Kashani told TechCrunch in a recent interview.

“This is a classic example of a ready mind meets opportunity,” Kashani said. “Robots walking around people is a huge opportunity for us. If you solve this problem, how you can make robots walk around people as autonomous machines, then you can bring it to many other areas. We knew we wanted to do this one day.”

Health was not the original goal of expansion, Kashani said, but the company was launched at a good time. Diligent was looking for growth and Serve was looking for new areas of opportunity.

“We love this team; they have a very similar DNA to us, which is, instead of building in a lab, they build in real life,” Kashani said. “It just seems like it really fits our mission.”

Khama will continue to be independent within Serve, Kashani said. Diligent will use Serve’s software and tools to help them work harder and the companies will share technology and collaborate, he added.

Kashani said this is not a start for the company, nor does it mean Serve is looking to acquire more startups, he added. Kashani, who emphasized that Serve is still focused on its roadside delivery robots, said that they will “open our eyes” to interesting companies that can be partners, not acquisition targets.

Serve could expand its robots in 2025 from 100 to 2,000, he said. The company also signed a partnership with DoorDash to lead some of their shipments to Los Angeles in October.

“Our side business is driving everything,” Kashani said. “It’s developing technology. It’s one of the largest ships in the world and it’s being developed that allows us to create everything we need for other applications.”